Urinary Incontinence is a condition in which an individual’s urinary sphincter is either weak or out of control resulting in involuntary leakage of urine. According to the Global Forum of Incontinence, more than ~423 million people suffer from Urinary Incontinence, worldwide. Of which ~303 million are women and ~121 million are men. Women aged little more than age 40 are the most affected. The main causes for incontinence are stress (due to pregnancy, menopause, age, obesity, hysterectomy, coughing, weight lifting, exercise, etc.), urge (due to cystitis, prostate enlargement, neurological condition, etc.), overflow (due to prostate enlargement, tumour, urinary stones, constipation, surgical incontinence, etc.) and total incontinence resulting from fistula, injuries and anatomical defects. Sometimes even medications, alcohol and urinary tract infections can also result in urinary incontinence. The types of incontinence are stress, urge, overflow, total, functional and mixed incontinence. The majority of urinary incontinence types reported worldwide is the stress incontinence affecting around 10-40% of the population, of which women alone report more than 51% are women. While 1-8% of the population report for urge related urinary incontinence, which is more prevalent in the male population up to 23%. This suggests that the treatment for stress incontinence dominates the market share. Further, this is expected to go up as the number of obese individuals is increasing due to lifestyle modifications, increase in geriatric population, etc.

Urinary incontinence is mainly treated using devices that usually help in managing urine retention and urinary incontinence. They can be indwelling urinary catheters, artificial urinary sphincters, electrical stimulation devices and vaginal slings. The indwelling urinary catheters can be of intermittent and Foley catheters types. Foley catheters are used for long-term catheterization while the intermittent catheters are used for short-term. Placing the urinary slings around the urethra so that it can be lifted and sufficient urethral compression can be achieved to control the urine. This is predominantly used in both the male and female population to control the urine outflow. Artificial sphincters and electrical stimulation devices are also being used in recent times to control the condition, wherein the artificial sphincters market is expected to cross US$475 million by 2023 at a CAGR of 6.07%.

Urinary incontinence seems to be spread out across all the regions with North America reporting 9% of the total population, European region 9.9%, the Asia Pacific 8.4%, Latin American region with 8.2% and the Middle East and African region reporting 7.2%. Thus, it is evident that the European region tops the list. However, the North American region dominates the market share with more than 29% owing to several factors such as awareness among the patients, the presence of key market players and acceptance of products. Followed by which is the European region, Asia Pacific and LAMEA.

The key market drivers which contribute to the growth of Y-o-Y revenue are increasing geriatric population. At the end of 2020, the world geriatric population is expected to increase to around 980 million with 55 million in the US alone. Besides, women who suffer from stress urinary incontinence due to pregnancy, childbirth and menopause is also a key market driver. There is an increasing demand for minimally invasive and non-implantable devices (including the device used for strengthening the muscles of the pelvic floor) for treating incontinence related problems. Growing healthcare reimbursement policies, disbursal income and increase in R&D investments are also anticipated to fuel the market growth throughout the forecast period. But the challenges of urinary incontinence devices market is associated with the risks associated with the urinary tract infections (UTI), invasiveness and maintenance of the catheters. Also, there is a bigger threat associated with new market entrants and the emergence of local market players with low-cost products.

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